If you’re listening, Santa…
Those on social media sites have likely seen the video going around about Westjet’s Christmas Miracle promotion. Whoever thought that up was genius and I bet all of the other airlines are kicking themselves for not being that creative. As we flew by Liat back from Barbados, Rebecca and I discussed what gift we would ask for were we to be placed in such a situation. Our unanimous answer was a Macbook Air laptop.
Since the pre-Windows days I have used nothing but Apple computers. For over 20 years we ran our business with nothing but Macs with the exception of a brief stint where I employed a bookkeeper who insisted that we use a Windows machine. I hated that system so much that I fired him!
As good as Apple computers are though, the marine environment is tough. Rebecca’s hard drive died some time ago forcing her to use the little “disposable” netbook PC we have on board. The Mackbook Pro that I had delivered to us in the summer of 2011, while still working, could use a bigger drive. At the time that I purchased it Apple had just announced their MacBook Air laptops and I was hesitant to be one of the first to test their new technology. Now I’m ready though.
I have a theory. It seems to me that it is the mechanical hard drives which fail most frequently in laptops down here. As the Air uses flash memory instead of a mechanical drive, my thinking is that it may just last longer on a boat than a traditional laptop. At least I’d love to have the opportunity to test that theory!
So, Westjet, Liat, Apple, Santa or long lost relatives, if you are listening, Rebecca and I have been very good this year. If you’re shopping for us, please place a new 11″ MacBook Air in each of our stockings, preferably with the larger hard drives and faster processors (that’s not being too greedy, is it?). We promise to use them to keep this blog full of great content in the coming year. 😉
Last night we were invited to ride on “Rudolf” in the Christmas Boat Parade. It was a fun throwing candy to the kids along the waterfront as we motored slowly past. We did sing Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer a few too many times though.
The SSD drives do wear out as well, so you still need to keep a backup, but I do agree that it should certainly be more durable. I think the next laptop I buy will be a Macbook Pro. Lightroom is just plain old better on a Mac.
The salt air eventually kills everything. The question is not IF but WHEN.
Now if you had asked for socks and underwear, I would have gotten you those. Or maybe, it should be bikinis and sandals….
I hope you guys gave a great holiday!
🙂
FWIW – I have had my MacBook Air for nearly three years now. I must say that it is the finest personal computer I have ever owned. There is not even a close second and I have owned many computers over the years. It is very fast and everything just works well. I also use it to drive a big monitor at work, nice video quality. VERY rugged and it spends a lot of time on our boat. It has taken flight across the cabin on more than one occasion. It looks a bit beat up but it just keeps tickin’.
Awesome testimonial. I have other friends who them and love them too.
I was just showing that video to Mark last night, funny how it’s getting around the internet. I was a great idea and great for WestJet. I bet the guy who said he needed socks and underwear wishes he had an opportunity to rethink his answer. 🙂
No kidding. I bet he got ribbed by his friends for that too. 🙂
MIKE – We JUST ordered a Macbook Pro with the flash drive. It is slightly heavier than the Air. But the Mac book Pro has a new extremely high resolution display that we hope will be a big help in photo and video editing. The high res display is not available with the Mac Air. This will be our first Apple experience. Our Christmas present to ourselves! Fair winds, D & Don
I learned something new from you today… I didn’t know they were selling the pros with flash drives now. Awesome.
You should put an SSD in your Macbook. The mechanical hard drive in mine died last year after I bumped it off a table (oops!). Since I was forced to replace it anyway, I replaced it with a OCZ 240GB Vertex 3 SSD. Swapping the drives over is an easy job. And when you’re done, you’ve got a machine that runs faster, uses less power, and has no moving parts except the cooling fan!
SSDs aren’t cheap (yet) but they’re cheaper than buying a Macbook Air!
I think our friends just did that!
Saw that video this week too… and chuckled at the socks and underwear guy. I would have probably asked for a nice camera lens. Or a plane ticket somewhere fabulous.
Like to the Virgins to visit us? 😉